Inside the Braves with MLB.com's Mark Bowman

Trade talks could soon heat up for the Braves

There hasn’t been a lot of buzz surrounding the Braves during the early portion of this Hot Stove Season. But there’s a sense that things might heat up after Frank Wren assembles with his peers at the general manager meetings in Orlando early next week.

While the Braves might eventually land a veteran reliever or possibly another starting pitcher on the free-agent market, their primary focus is to find at least one outfielder. With anywhere from $10-15 million to spend, it appears they’ll most likely fill this need via the trade market.

The Braves have seemingly shown some interest in free agent outfielder Pat Burrell, who rejuvenated his career while helping the Giants win the World Series. But early indications are that the veteran, defensively-challenged outfielder might prove to be too expensive.

Thus it appears more likely that the Braves will find themselves taking a gamble on an outfielder available via trade. The Dodgers don’t seem interested in trading Matt Kemp and the Braves don’t seem too interested in even contemplating the idea of taking a chance on B.J. Upton.

There’s a chance that Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox) or Colby Rasmus could be acquired for the right price. But the Braves seem intent on finding a right-handed outfielder to fill their already left-handed heavy lineup.

Thus it seems more likely that they would pursue somebody like Josh Willingham from the Nationals or maybe a potential leadoff hitter like Rajai Davis from the A’s.

Davis produced a mediocre .320 on-base percentage while hitting .284 and recording 50 stolen bases this past year. Willingham’s injury woes increased this past summer when he was forced to undergo arthroscopic surgery in August to repair meniscus in his left knee.

With limited funds, the Braves are likely going to have to acquire an outfielder who will be viewed as “having some warts.” But as the Giants proved this past year, you can benefit from taking chances on guys like Burrell and Aubrey Huff when you have a solid pitching staff.

The Braves will have a better idea of how much money they can spend once they determine where Kenshin Kawakami will be pitching next year. A month ago, it appeared they had found a Japanese club willing to acquire Kawakami and offset about $3 million of the $6.67 million the Braves owe him in the final year of his contract.

There has sense been some reason to believe that Kawakami would rather continue pitching in the United States. The Yomuri Giants were believed to be one of the clubs interested in the 34-year-old right-hander.

Kawakami has said that he doesn’t like pitching in the Tokyo Dome, which serves as the Giants home. My only response to that is, “Would he rather pitch in Gwinnett County’s Coolray Field?

If they need additional funds to land the outfielder they are seeking or simply need to enhance a trade package, the Braves might opt to trade one of their projected starters for the 2011 season. They won’t deal Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson or Mike Minor. Nor do they seem very excited about the possibility of trading Jair Jurrjens.

Thus we’re back where we were last year, when they were contemplating the idea of trading either Derek Lowe or Javier Vazquez. But this year, it doesn’t appear they’ll be actively shopping Lowe like they were last year before reaching the point where they had to deal Vazquez to the Yankees.

Having gone 5-0 with a 1.17 ERA in his final five regular season starts and then impressing in his two postseason starts, Lowe certainly looks more appealing than he did at this time last year. But the Braves would certainly be hard pressed to deal him without eating at least a portion of the $30 million they owe him over the next two years.

If the Braves end up trading a pitcher, Vazquez will certainly be among the pitchers that they target to fill the rotation void. But there is a belief that the Nationals or Marlins will be willing to offer more to give him a chance to rekindle the success he enjoyed in the NL East in 2009.

Minor League hires: When the Braves announce their Minor League coaching staff within the next couple of days, there will be a couple of familiar names. Former Orioles manager Dave Trembley has reportedly been hired to serve as the Minor League field coordinator.

In addition, Jonathan Schuerholz is expected to be named the manager for the Gulf Coast League Braves. Schuerholz is the son of former Braves GM and current president John Schuerholz.

After playing his college ball at Auburn University, the younger Schuerholz played six seasons in the Braves organization, advancing as far as the Triple-A level. He has spent the past couple seasons serving as the club’s Minor League infield instructor.

This role provided Schuerholz the opportunity to be around the game on a daily basis and spend countless hours interacting with the likes of Triple-A Gwinnett manager Dave Brundage and former Double-A Mississippi Phil Wellman.

1 Those 2 players are not i repeat not available bc of their big contract.

2 It would take more then KK Beachy and Mclouth to get Ryan Braun. Now if maybe u trade JJ Beachy conrad to KC and get Greinke then you maybe able to sway The Brewers in to giving up Braun.

3 Alex Rios is way to expensive for the Braves due to his 60 Million dollar Contract. and again it would take more then JJ to get Rios.

4 And we dont need another Lefty in out line up.

I just read that the Mets are hearing Offers for Beltran I mean why not go after him and see what the Mets are willing to take aslong as it isnt Tehran or Vizciano. Maybe give up Beach Cody Johnson and KK For Beltran

Or trade JJ Beachy wes timmon and Cody Johnson to the A’s for Coco Crisp and Connor Jackson

If we do trade JJ instead of signin Vasquez why not bring up someone from the minors like Todd Redmond or Micheal Broadway. and give the bring up Canizares and give him a shot at either as a backup firstbase man and possible Lf if he can prove that he can play there. I mean give these young guys a shot.

WTF? Rajai Davis? Wren just really loves having incompetent OF’rs. Rajai had very bad defensive numbers in LF and absolutely no power. His 2009 OBP was driven by a .361 BABIP. He still had an above avergage .321 BABIP in 2010. He could very easily post a sub .300 OBP with any dip in BA at all. His only true skill is speed. Combine all of that with Nate’s awful CF numbers and once again we’ll have a awful 2011 OF. I dont understand why its difficult to add one decent OF’r, esp with the pitching depth that we have. Trade something and upgrade this team.

Wren did a nice job of building his team around good OBP guys last offseason. Then he went out and traded for AAG and Ankiel who hit like pitchers. Now he wants another low OBP guy. Its dumbfounding

It’s pretty sad to read “early indications are that [PAT BURRELL], the defensively-challenged outfielder might prove to be too expensive.” If we end up with no power in LF then the off season will have been a total failure. The ONLY way to salvage that at least slightly would be getting someone like Ellsbury, and that’s only if the Sox get Werth since it seems Crawford is probably California bound. We could shuffle the lineup to get Prado out of the leadoff spot and Heyward out of the 2 spot. I know it worked last year, but if there still going to be zero power in center and left, then you need to move Prado and Heyward into RBI producing spots and move Chipper out of the third spot and into one that more utilizes his patience and OBP.
So basically we get speed, another rental w bad defense and questionable power, or sell the farm for a player that has public disputes w managers.. Now that I think of it Josh Willingham is really the best option, but I just hope that the idiotic Nationals aren’t so stubborn to deal him as they have been for the past few years.

As strange as this sounds, I’d almost be ok with giving Mather a shot in LF. Our LFs combined for what last year? .250/.320/.400 last year with MAYBE 14 HRs? Is there anyone here who doesnt think Mather is capable of that and potentially more?
His average season in AAA (including while rehabbing a fractured wrist) has been .258/.342/.460, 23 HRs, 74 RBIs, and he doesnt strike out 100 times a year.
And those who will complain about him being an average defender…
…do I need to remind you of Melky Cabrera?

Carnizares has no value nc. And Clint Sammons is a minor league free agent. And there’s no way the Brewers give up Braun, but if they did, it would probably take Jurrjens, Delgado, a top OF prospect, and a B list prospect.

Well considering that DOB (if I remember correctly) said that it would probably take a package of JJ, Prado, Kimbrel, and more to get Rasmus… I doubt a top flight prospect who just tore his elbow and another top flight prospect who will probably end up in the bullpen will get us Braun, who is one of the best outfielders in all of baseball.
Also.. if the starting LF (or CF is McLouth is in left) is in our organization right now then, like I have already said about 5 times already, the offseason will be a giant failure. I love the guy, but if Diaz is still on the team, the job hasn’t been done. Wren is not going to break camp without a new face out there. CSG1, Mark didn’t steal Wren’s planner.. it’s all speculation right now. If we are going to sell the farm on a Braun or Rasmus, we might as well not make that trade, give away Lowe and eat half his salary, use that and whatever else it takes to sign Werth, sign Vazquez mostly w money we get from dumping KK, and then go with a rotation of Hudson / Hanson / JJ / Minor / Vazquez. Then you still have Beachy as a backup and even Teheran in the wings if there is bigger trouble.

If this is what the Braves are contemplating, why bother? Liberty doesn’t give a damn about the Braves, so just forget about winning and resign yourselves to mediocrity. I’m just disgusted. This team was lucky to make the playoffs last year and is not a playoff team, IMO, going forward, but that’s ok with ownership. Poor Frank Wren, I bet he would love to work for a team that actually had resources and wanted to win.

The Indians need a third baseman so why not trying to see if they can take Conrad or maybe i know this isnt the most popular idea but sending Infante to Clevand along with Conrad and David Ross for Trevo Crowe and a minor league prospect. I mean the kid is a switch hitter has speed and be perfect for the leadoff hitter. I mean the one things the Braves front office is do is go to Liberty Media head office and tell them they need to do two things, either put more money into the team or sell it to someone else who will, like Mark Cuban or anyone.

I may have to admit but i think how much as it pains me to say but I think we need to make a texiera type deal to land someone. If you look some of the players with long term contracts. Cory Hart, Matt Kemp Adrian Gonzlez or Nick Swisher. I mean why not make a deal for Fielder and i know how much that hurts everyone in here and next year offer him a contract to his liking after Chipper and Lowes money becomes free.

Teams are not looking for even trades for the most part unless they have a glaring weakness. A team making a trade is looking to come out “on top” with the deal. I do not see the need in selling the farm for a big bat, but we could definitely use some pop in the outfield. I do wonder why we have never used Canizares at all. He is either a prospect or dead weight. We should at least give him a shot and see if he can swing it. Either 1. he sucks it up and goes back to Gwinnet, or 2. he provides some worth for a bench bat or trade bait. Right now he is stuck in limbo of not moving up but at the same time taking up a spot. He’s definitely not getting any younger. Maybe he will get a spring training invite and show something.

I don’t understand why anyone would want to trade JJ. Aside from the rare beating the guy is a stud. If he’d ever get any run support he’d have been an All-Star by now. We need to ride that horse for all it’s worth. Kawakami needs to go, but honestly I don’t know any team in the US that would want him. Any OF we could get in exchange for him, well, I don’t see that guy being terribly productive.

Speedy, Prado plays the outfield in winter ball so that should not be a problem. Uggla did turn down 4 years for $48 mill so he may be too expensive. I think NC does not realize that Fielder will be a FA next year and thus be a one yr deal if traded this winter.

I think getting Upton would be nice and i think using beachy can work if we maybe add moylan bc they might need a closer and Moylan can be used as a closer. so why not Moylan beachy and Mclouth for Upton and minor league player.

Yes i do understand that Fielder is gonna be a free agent but do u understand how much money will be free after 2011. Chipper Lowes and KK money gonna be free so why not use that and what ever else is gonna be free and sign him to a long term deal.

i think braun is possible to do they need pitching and money to resign fielder so give them jj which in two to three years he will be making more than we will pay him thanks to boris beachy either delgado or vizcaino and a lower level prospect i think that gets it done you keep tehern your number one prospect and you get a great outfielder that is signed for what four years and you have money to get a vazques and a backup outfielder i would get aundrew jones to platoon with nate and you have a lot better outfield and the pitching is still very strong all in the limits of our payrole if we get about 3million of kk money back

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